LAS VEGAS - No. 3 seed Saint Mary's defeated No. 6 seed San Francisco, 9-4, in the first round of the 2025 West Coast Conference Baseball Tournament from Las Vegas Ballpark in Las Vegas thanks to three home runs by Saint Mary's. 

With the win, the Gaels will play No. 2 seed Gonzaga tomorrow at 6:05 p.m. 

Diego Castellanos, Aiden Taurek and Jared Mettam all slugged homers for the Gaels. 

After the Dons jumped out to an early lead, Castellanos slugged a two-run home run to put SMC up, 4-3, in the bottom of the sixth. The Gaels added one more to make it a three-run inning. Aiden Taurek's solo blast in the bottom of the seventh increased the Gaels' lead to 6-3 before Mettam's three-run blast later in the inning put the Gaels up for good at 9-3. 

USF jumped on the board early thanks to a two-run home run from TJ Rogers. The teams traded sacrifice flies to make the score 3-1, Dons heading to the bottom of the third. Saint Mary's cut the deficit down to one thanks to an RBI single by Ryan Pierce before SMC started going yard. 

Four Gaels posted two-hit games - Pierce, Castellanos, Taurek and Mettam.